Faris ad-Din Aktai

Faris ad-Din Aktai (died 1254) was an emir of the Mamluks of the Bahri Sultanate of Egypt.

Biography
Faris ad-Din Aktai was born into a family of Sunni Muslim Kipchaks, and he was enslaved by the Mongol Empire and later purchased by the Ayyubid sultan as-Salih Ayyub. He was sent to Hasankeyf in 1249 to call al-Muazzam Turanshah to Cairo to take over the Ayyubid Sultanate on as-Salih's death, and he was one of the generals at the 1250 Battle of Mansurah. After Mansurah, Turanshah began to appoint his own mamluks to positions of power, leading to the Bahri Mamluks assassinating him; Aktai cut out his heart. In 1251, he conquered parts of Syria from the Ayyubids, and in 1252 he became the ruler of Alexandria. That year, he put down an uprising in southern Egypt against the rule of Sultan Aybak. Aybak feared Aktai's growing power, as well as his betrothal to an Ayyubid princess, as this would make him a legitimate heir to the Ayyubid Sultanate. Aktai was murdered in Aybak's castle, and his severed head was thrown from the fort, leading to mamluks such as Baibars fleeing.